Air handling and dust collecting mechanism



Oct. 29, "1940.

E. L. ANDERSON AIR HANDLING AND DUST COLLECTING macmmrsu 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 24, 1931 ATTORNEYS 0d. 29, .1940. A 5 ANDERSON 2,219,377

AIR HANDLING AND DUST COLLECTING MECHANISM Filed Jul $24, 1937 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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lm FORC/NG RING EARING 1 NVENTOR EDWARD L. ANDERSON BY MM ATTORNEYS T w m v .-z,21-9,371"

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- ar as-n AIR narmnnve AND nns'r counc'rnsc rmcnamsu ram-1.. Anderson, Detroit, Mich, asslgnor to American Blower Corporation, Detroit, Mich .a corporation of Delaware Application nus 24, 1931; Serial No. 155,458 6 Claims. (01. 183-30) This invention relates to air conditioning and, as by bolts or welding, is an air inlet box or chamin particular, to air handling and dust collecting ber 3. Each air inlet box 3 is provided with an a mechanism. 7 .air inlet opening 4 and to the outside wall of each It is an object of this invention to provide a inlet box 3 is rigidly secured a bearing member combined volume control and dust collector. 5. The bearing members 5 support the fan shaft it Itisafurther object of thisinventiontoprovide 8 which has the fan rotor or wheel I rigidly inlet damper control means for controlling the secured in suitable manner to the central portion volume of air supplied to the fan means. thereof and disposed within the fan housing I.

It is a further object of this invention to pro- Each bearing 5 rotatably supports the hub 3 m vide means for maintaining the efficiency of a of av gear 3, which is spaced therefrom by means fan above that achieved with ordinary design of bearing members l0. Rigidly secured toeach of dampers, irrespective of the change of volume gear 8 is a'substantially semi-circular back plate of air supply by imparting to the fan inlet air a ll having rigidly secured thereto an inlet control preliminary whirl before it enters the eye of'the plate H of substantially semi-circular section. as

fan.

It is further object of this invention to provide I I extend outwardly bey the inlet control p at dust collector means adapted to skim from the to form an annular flange l3 which cooperates air in a faninlet chamber, dirt, dust and other with a flange l4 provided on the inner surfaces foreign material for the purpose of cleaning the of each inlet box-3, as shown in Figure l. The

air supplied to the fan, for the prevention of inlet control plates 12 are adapted to term two 20 damage to the fan, and/or for the recovery from chambers in each inlet box 3, namely, the inlet the air of materials suspended therein. chamber 3a which communicates with the air It is afurther object of this invention topro- "inlet 4, and the fan chamber 3b which comvide apparatus capable of functioning as a fan municates, through the inlet throat 24, with the shown in F gure 2; The edges of the back plate 95 air inlet volume control and also. as skimming fan rotor Tin the {an a to c nt ol means. communication therebetween. The back plates It is a. further object of this inventioiito prc- II and attached inlet control plates I2, which are vide such means wherein an adjustable skimmer ri idly s fi r d t0 e Ge are r le is provided, which will be automatically extended therewith and remote control means for adjustin upon increase of volume of inlet air due to its the. inlet control'plates'is provided, each of which 30 cooperation with the air inlet control. comprises 11 8 5 meshing with a e r I and It is a further object ofv this invention to prorigidly secured-to a stub shaft I6 rotatablysupvide a single means performing the function of ported in the bearing II secured in the outer wall fan inlet volume control means and also skimof each inlet box 3'. At its outer end, each stub ming means. shaft I! has a gear l3 rigidly secured thereto, '35

These and other objects and advantages will which meshes with a gear I! secured to the shaft appear from the following description taken in 30 of a reversible electric motor 2| which is rigidly connection with the drawings. secured to the supporting bracket 22. Each sup- .In the drawings: Y porting bracket 22 is rigidly secured to the outer 40 Figure lis an elevational view of fan structure surface of a side wall of the air inlet box 3. 40

having the apparatus of this inventi i r- The reversible electric motors 2| are preferably V ,porated therein; provided with suitable control circuits, by means Figure 2 is a section taken on. the line 2-3 oi of which they may be manually or automatically Figure 1; I controlled from a remote station to adjust the in- 1 Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentarysectional let control members comprising back plates ll 5 view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1; and attached control plates I! by rotation of the.

' Figure 4 is an enlarged elevational view, in gears l, for the desired amount through the above section, of structure shown in Figure l; and described 8 trflin- Each inlet b0! 3 s Provided Figure 5 is a section through modified form with a dust take-oil duct 23 which is substantialemploying guide vanes at the inlet to the fan. 1y t n e a y a a ed wi h e pect to the ad- Referring. to the drawings in detail and with justable airinlet control plate ll of each inlet reference particularly to Figure 1, the fan is probox 3. The inlet throats of the fan are desigvided with a casing or housing I of .volute shape nated 24. The direction of rotation of the fan having an air outlet 2. Rigidly secured at each is indicated by an. arrow in il'igure 2, from the side of the fan housing I in any suitable manner, structure of which the inlet throat 24 has been omitted for the sake of clearness. The inlet control members comprising inlet control plates l2.

and supporting back plates II are adjustable in opposite directions, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 2, throughout 360 degrees of arc. It will be apparent that the arcuate plate I2 may be rotated a considerable distance, right or left, from the position shown by the full lines in Figure 2 and still perform its dual function of controlling the amount of air passing into the fan chamber and skimming the outer layer of dust. as the forward edge of the plate, as considered from the direction of the moving air, is adjacent the curved or arcuate portion of the casing 3,

the plate will serve to skim the dust from. theincoming dust-laden air. It is further evident that the air in passing through the inlet 4, first, strikes the curved surface of the plate I! and thus is given a partially rotary movement. The air then enters the space between the edge In and the casing, and follows the curvature of the arcuate portion of the casing to increase the preliminary whirling effect.

The path of air from the-air inlet openings 4 to the air outlet openings 2 is indicated by arrows in Figures 1 and 2. The distance between the lower edge l2a of the inlet control plate I! and the adjacent wall of each air inlet .box 3 determines the volume of air supplied from the inlet chamber through this passage and through the corresponding inlet throat 24 to the fan. The upper edge lib of each inlet control plate I2 cooperateswiththe-walls of the air inlet boxes 3 to form an extension of the dust takeofl'duct 23 and to skim from the inlet air particles of: dust, dirt and/or foreign material which is centrifugally separated from the :air supply to' thefan .byreason of the preliminary whirl imparted to the air passing from the air inlet chamber 3a through. the passageway between the edge Ma 01' theplate l2 and the cooperating inlet box wall to the. fan chamber 3b andthence to the inlet throat 2|. It is'obvious that, if there is no portion of the plate in the lower partof the easing, the plate does not perform'the additional function of controlling the volume of air passing through-the inlet box. However, under the circumstances, thelplate may still serve to skim the dust fromthe incoming stream of dust and air if the forward edge of the plate is positioned to the right of the dust'take-ofl, in which case the outer surface of the plate will serve in conjunction with the casing to guide the skimmed dust to the take-off duct.

It will thus be seen that the inlet control plates II, in addition to controlling the volume of inlet air,'in'ipart to the inlet air a preliminary whirl which centrifugally separates suspended dirt and/or foreign material therefrom and also functions as a skimmer and cooperates with the walls of the inlet box 3 to convey this skimmed or separated material to the dust take-off duct 23. The V dust take-oil duct 23 is, of course, connected to any suitable collecting means. e

- Attention is particularly directed to the fact that, when the inlet control plate II, as seen in Figured, is rotatably adjusted in clockwise direction, the distance between the lower edge or lip Ila thereof and the wall of the inlet box is increased whereby to increase the passageway between the inlet chamber and the fan chamber and thusincrease the volume of air supplied to the fan;,- At the-same time, the upper edge or lip I21; ofthe plate I 2 isextended toward th P As long sageway between the inlet chamber'and the fan chamber. By means of the remote control means provided, the adjustment of the inlet control plates may be made from any desirable point or station and, due to the provision of the gear train between each control or adjusting motor II (which is preferably reversible) and its back plate rotating gear 8, extremely accurate adjustments of the plates may be made.

While the principles of this invention have been shown as applied to a double inlet fan, it is, of course, to be understood that they are applicable to a single inlet fan, in which case, only a single inlet box need be provided.

By referring to Figure 5 it will be observed that this modification shows the use of inlet vanes 25 I which are located in the inlet passageway 24. Thus the preliminary whirl given to theair by the positioning of the damper in the inlet passageway M, as at Ila, is continued and increasedby, the inlet vanes".

It will, ofcourse, be understood that the abovedescribed structure is merely illustrative of the manner'in which the principles of my invention may be carried out and that I desire to comprehend within my invention such modifications as come within the scope of the claims and the invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as' new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, a fan casing with a rotor therein, an air inlet box adjacent said fan casing for supplying air to said rotor, a dust take-oil! duct extending from said inlet box, and an adjustably mounted curved plate in said inlet box adapted to provide a substantially cylindrical space concentric with the fan casing between the inlet box and the outlet edge of the plate forming a tangential extension for said dust take-off duct, the lower end of said plate cooperating with the nearest side of the. inlet box to cause dust-laden air to enter the cylindrical space out of direct line with said space, the upper end of said plate being adapted to skimdust from the air and-to convey it through said tangential extension to the dust take-off duct.

2. A combined fan and dust separator unit comprising a .fan chamber and air inlet chambers mounted on each side of the fan chamber, all of said chambers communicating with one another and having a cylindrical configuration with an mounted on a shaft which extends along the common axis into the inlet chambers, and'means including arcuate members carried by said shaft and positioned in each of said inlet chambers for skimming thedust from the dust-laden air entering the inlet chambers, each of said arcuate members being rotatable on said shaft to a position such that one end of the member cooperates with the inlet chamber to direct the incoming air initially to a direction away from the eye of the fan, and the opposite end of the member serves to skim the dust from the dust-laden air as it enters the eye of the fan.

3. A combined fan and dust separator unit comprising a fan housing containing a fan provided with an eye, an airinlet chamber of curved configuration communicating with said eye, and means including a curved plate concentrically mounted within said chamber for'limiting the air inlet of the chamber to a position out of direct line with respect to the eye of the fan, whereby one edge of the plate cooperates with one side of the chamber to cause the dust-laden air to enter the chamber in a tangential direction and the opposite edge of the plate is caused to skim dust from the air entering the eye of the fan.

4. A combined fan and dust separator unit comprising a fan housing containing a fan providd with an eye, an air inlet chamber of curved configuration communicating with said eye, a

dust take-off passage extending from said inlet chamber, and a curved plate in said chamber supported for adjustment swingably about the eye of the fan, the lower end of said plate cooperating with the nearest side of the inlet chamber to cause dust-laden air to enter the chamber out of direct line with the fan eye, and the upper end of the plate being adapted to skim dust from the air and convey it to said dust take-off passage.

5. A combined fan and dust separator unit comprising a fan chamber containing a fan provided with an inlet eye, an air inlet chamber having a curved wall portion opposite the inlet communicating with said eye and symmetrically disposed with respect thereto, and means including a curved plate mounted concentrically with respect to said eye and spaced from the wall for limiting the air inlet to a position such as to cause the stream of in'coming dust-laden air to 5 enter the chamber at an off-set position with respect to the eye of the fan, whereby dust is skimmed from the air by said plate;

6. A combined fan and dust separator unit comprising a fan'housing containing a fan pro- 10 vided with an inlet eye, an air inlet chamber coinmunicating with said eye and directly in line therewith, and means for directing the dustladen gas entering said chamber away from said eye, said means comprising a plate with free op- 15 'positie ends. one of said ends cooperating with the nearest side of the inlet chamber to direct the dust-laden gas away from said eye and the other end cooperating with other portions of said chamber to skim the dust from said gas before it so enters the eyeof the Ian.

EDWARD L. anbnason. 

